Externally adjustable bathtub wire system and means for and method of externally adjusting same

ABSTRACT

A substantially universal bathtub waste and overflow wire system having a plurality of articulated links, two of which are threaded to adjust the length of the wire system. The wire system defines a bench mark cooperable with a gauge juxtaposable in a predetermined relationship to an overflow opening. When the bench mark and gauge are aligned, the wire system is adjusted to just touch the tub floor. The wire system may then be installed in the tub fittings without requiring further adjustment.

PATENTEDAPR 18 m2 INVENTO gal/Li: T/Z

EXTERNALLY ADJUSTABLE BATHTUB WlRE SYSTEM AND MEANS FOR AND METHOD OF EXTERNALLY ADJUSTING SAME Virtually every bathtub made and sold today utilizes a mechanical system for opening and closing the drain opening in the floor of the bathtub, which system also permits overflow water to discharge into the waste line. The vast preponderance of these mechanical systems incorporate an adjustable wire system which is adjusted in length on site by a plumber to fit the particular bathtub with which it is to be used.

Because the wire system is usually carried by an operating handle supported on a face plate attached across the tub overflow opening, and because the spacing between the handle and the cooperable fittings effecting closing and opening of the drain opening can vary from tub to tub by as much as four inches, it is important that a universally adaptable wire system for opening and closing the waste opening be adjustable over a ran ge of about four inches.

The variation in those spacings has required plumbers to employ a number of time-consuming procedures in fitting a wire system to a tub. First of all, plumbers usually alternatively install and remove and adjust a wire system until it is apparently of the right length for a particular tub. If water service is not available for testing, it sometimes happens that the adjustment is incorrectly made. That then requires further adjustment by the user or the return of the plumber to correct the situation. Next, because of the substantial variation in the distance between the overflow opening and the tub fittings of different makes and models, frequently the plumber is required to cut, to disassemble, to reassemble and to alter a standard wire system, a time-consuming procedure. Alternatively, a plumber might have to carry several lengths of wire systems of the limited adjustability types presently available to accommodate all makes and models of tubs. Even then, however, he may still have to insert and remove the wire system several times to determine, by trial and error, the correct length for the make and model of tub to which he is fitting the wire system.

In accordance with this invention these and other related problems known to the art are avoided. The improved wire system of this invention provides the full range of adjustment necessary for virtually all makes and models of bathtubs presently on the market. Further, and a very important feature of this invention is that it provides means for, and a method of adjusting the length of a wire system correctly prior to the first insertion of a wire system through the overflow opening and into associated bathtub fittings. Trial and error adjustment is eliminated.

In accordance with this invention a multisection, articulatable and adjustable wire system is provided. The system includes at least two cooperably threaded sections which are adjustable for at least about a four inch length, and preferably comprises three wire sections, the uppermost of which is nonthreaded. For correctly adjusting the length of the wire system externally of the bathtub fittings, the uppermost section defines a locating means or bench mark. A gauge for indicating substantially the horizontal center of a bathtub overflow opening is provided. When the center indicated by the gauge and the bench mark are juxtaposed, the threaded wires are adjusted until the lowermost end of the wire system, which end carries drain opening and closing means, just touches the tub floor. The system when so adjusted is ready for insertion through the overflow opening and into the fittings of a bathtub and is ready to function for its intended purpose without further adjustment.

Further advantages and objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partially in section, illustrating a wire system of this invention and illustrating means for, and a method of adjusting the length of the wire system to a proper length;

FIG. 2 illustrates the wire system of FIG. 1 as installed; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a further embodiment of this invention.

Referring now to the drawings, and especially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the waste wire system and method of installing same are illustrated in conjunction with a conventional tub 10 having an overflow opening 12 and drain opening 14.

The overflow opening 12 is sealed at its rear face by an overflow washer 16 associated with a series of fittings including an overflow head 18. Overflow head 18 drains into overflow tube 20 which is sealingly secured to a fitting such as a tee 22 by a threaded slipnut 24 and slip joint washer 26. Tee 22 is sealingly connected to a shoe tube 28 by a further slip nut 30 and slip joint washer 32. Shoe tube 28 terminates forwardly in a waste shoe 34. The upper end of waste shoe 34 is sealed to the lower surface of the tub adjacent drain opening 14 by a rubber gasket 36. The upper innersurface of waste shoe 34 is threaded to receive shoe plug 38 to seal at gasket 36. The shoe plug 38 provides a lateral crossbar 40 which is threaded to receive a bolt 42, which bolt clamps a strainer 44 peripherally to the upper surface of shoe plug 38 adjacent drain opening 14. The tee 22 terminates at its base in a tailpiece 46 which may also be sealed to tee 22 by a slip nut and slip joint washer (not shown).

So far, the tub and tub fittings described are conventional and are well known tothe art.

The improved bathtub waste and overflow wire system of this invention comprises a plunger operating assembly such as a trip lever assembly 50, a plunger 52 arid several elongate members or wires interconnecting them. The trip lever assembly per se (known to the art) shown in this embodiment comprises a face plate 54, an operating handle, such as a pivotally mounted handle 56 and an over-center spring mechanism 58 for moving the plunger 52 between drain closing and drain opening positions and for holding it in one or the other of those positions. The face plate 54 defines two screw receiving apertures (not shown) through which screws pass to sealingly compress overflow washer 16 against the surface of the tub surrounding overflow opening 12. As best seen in FIG. 2 the lower edge 59 of face plate 54 is cut away to permit overflow water to pass through overflow opening 12.

As stated, plunger 52 and handle 56 are operatively and articulatably interconnected by a multisection element, i.e., a series of elongate members such as wires, including upper member or wire 60, a threaded intermediate wire 62 and a generally parallel lower wire 64. Upper wire 60 is nonthreaded and defines eyes or loops 66 and 68 at opposite ends for pivotal articulatable connection with handle 56 and threaded wire 62. Loop 66 is received in an opening in handle 56 which dependingly supports wire 60 and lower loop 68 is engaged with an eye 70 at the upper end of threaded wire 62 to dependingly support wire 62. Lower wire 64 defines a threaded eye means 72 which may be a threaded offset loop or which may be a loop into which an adjustment nut 74 is rolled. Nut 74 permits lower wire 64 to be adjustingly moved along substantially the entire length of wire 62. To lock wire 64 is an adjusted position, locknut 76 is provided.

The lower end of lower wire 64, the end remote from handle 56, provides a loop 80 which pivotally receives a plunger rod 82, thereby loosely and pivotally supporting a plunger 52 on the lower end of lower wire 64.

In use plunger 52 is movable from the position of FIG. 2 to the dotted line position illustrated in FIG. 1. It will be seen that the end of plunger 52, FIG. 1, seats against a plunger seat 84 and further sealingly engages collar 86, both formed in tee 22. When the plunger is so positioned, water from the bathtub cannot pass through the strainer into tailpiece 46 because of the seal at the plunger seat 84, and water cannot pass upwardly past collar 86 because of the seal at the collar. If there were no seal at the collar, water would pass through the collar upwardly and then into the clear-through cylindrical bore 88 in plunger 52 and out through tailpiece 46. The bore 88, however, does permit the passage of overflow water directly through the plunger and into tailpiece 46.

Prior art wire systems included an upper yoke articulatably secured to a handle, as by a cotter pin connection, the yoke receiving a threaded upper wire which was swingably connected to an unthreaded lower wire supporting a plunger. The range of adjustment of such a system was limited to only about two inches, the length of the yoke. Further, for each bathtub, because of differences in makes and models of bath-tubs and because of differences in the distances between the overflow opening and the drain or waste openings, it was almost always necessary to insert and retract the wire system several times to adjust it to a proper length to make certain that the plunger was properly located to seal in the tee both against collar 86 and plunger seat 84.

In accordance with this invention a substantially greater range of adjustment is provided (making one wire system more universally adaptable to a wide range of makes and models of tubs), the threaded length of wire 62 preferably being at least about four inches. Further, in accordance with this invention, the adjustment of the plunger position may be made externally of the bathtub fittings and without repeated trial and error efforts and without cutting and altering of a wire system.

To that end, upper wire 60 defines a locating means or bench mark intermediate its ends. In the embodiment illustrated the bench mark is an offset or angled segment 100. This angled segment is positioned in a predetermined location to cooperate with an elongate locating gauge 102 and with the floor or base 104 of the tub to adjust the vertical position of plunger 52 prior to its insertion in the tub fittings. The gauge may be molded or may be desirably formed of sheet plastic.

As seen in FIG. 1, locating gauge 102 defines a rearward locating section 106 insertable into overflow opening 12. Section 106 defines a pair of locating jaws 108, the opposite outer surfaces of which preferably contact the inner surface of overflow head 18, thus locating substantially the center of the head opening. Forwardly of rearward section 16 an intermediate stop segment 110 is provided. This rests against the tub adjacent overflow opening 12 and preferably defines an inclined surface 112 which orients the locating gauge 102 to true horizontal, i.e., so that gauge line or surface 114 underlying locating or gauge segment 116 is truly horizontal, and so that gauge point 120 is located at a predetermined elevation with respect to the tub floor 104. In this embodiment gauge line 114 lies substantially on the central axis of the gauge. The stated position of gauge point 120 is the point at which the bench mark defined by wire member 60 should be positioned to indicate what threaded adjustment of the cooperably threaded wires 62 and 64 is necessary to properly position plunger 52. In this embodiment, when the lower wire is moved so that the base of the plunger 52 just contacts the tub floor, the length of the wire system is equal to the distance A and the wire system is ready to be inserted for proper mating in the bathtub fittings, as illustrated in dotted line in FIG. 1. It is seen that the adjustment is made between the center of the overflow opening and the tub floor. This distance, it has been determined, for virtually all present tubs and tub fittings will give a proper adjustment with a single bench mark on the upper wire. That is so even though there may be slight variations in fittings from different manufacturers and even though there may be slight variations in spacings when the fittings are assembled to a bathtub.

Thus, a first and final adjustment of the necessary effective length of the wire system may be made externally of the tub fittings for a wide variety of makes and models of bathtubs without the time consuming trial and error procedures which have been necessary in the past, and without cutting and altering the wire system, also as has been frequently necessary in the past.

FIG. 3 illustrates a further embodiment of this invention incorporating another well-known type of drain stoppering assembly. In this embodiment, unless otherwise indicated, the parts are the same as described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 3 illustrates a known removable drain plug assembly 130 including a stopper 132 and a linkage system comprising a plurality of links and a shoe cam 134. The rearrnost link 136 positioned in tee 22' is acted upon by a coil spring section 138 integral with a lower wire 64'. Lower wire 64' is threadedly engaged with threaded wire 62 which in turn is linked to upper wire 60 and articulatably connected to handle 56. When the handle 56 is in the position of FIG. 2, stopper 132 sealingly engages shoe plug 38 thereby to close the drain opening to prevent the escape of water from the tub. When the handle 56 is moved to the up position, the rearward portion of the handle pivots downwardly and biases the spring section 138 down against link 136. Link 136 then is forced down and shoe cam 134 pivots about the confronting surface of shoe tube 28 forcing stopper 132 up and out of sealing engagement with shoe plug 38.

The wire system embodying coil spring section 138 is adjusted externally in the same manner as that of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, i.e., the locating gauge 102 is juxtaposed with the overflow opening and the lower wire 64' is moved along the threaded wire 62 until the bottom of spring section 138 just contacts the floor of the tub. At that point the locknut 76 is tightened and the wire assembly is inserted in the fittings as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Each of the embodiments described utilizes the improved wire system of this invention and is cooperable with an appropriate locating gauge to adjust the length of the wire system to the correct length for a given bathtub externally of the bathtub fittings, all in accordance with the method of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a system for correctly externally adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion in bathtub fittings, elongate gauge means comprising a first section adapted to be positioned in a bathtub overflow opening, an intermediate stop segment adjacent said first section for engaging a bathtub adjacent an overflow opening and a gauge segment projecting forwardly of said stop segment and away from said first section and cooperable with a said wire system to indicate together with a bathtub floor the length to which said wire system should be adjusted prior to insertion of a said wire system in the bathtub fittings.

2. In the system of claim 1 in which said gauge segment defines a surface lying substantially along the central axis of said elongate gauge means.

3. A method of correctly adjusting the length of a bathtub and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the fittings of a bathtub, the steps comprising providing an elongate multisection adjustable wire system with a bench mark in a predetermined location, indicating substantially the horizontal center of a bathtub overflow opening, aligning said horizontal center and said bench mark, and adjusting the wire system until the lowermost end thereof contacts the floor of said bathtub.

4. A method of adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the bathtub fittings of a bathtub comprising the steps of providing a wire system having an operating handle and a plurality of elongate links depending from said handle, two of which links are cooperably threaded, the uppermost link defining a bench mark, juxtaposing a locating gauge with the overflow opening of a bathtub, said gauge including a gauge segment projecting forwardly from said overflow opening, said gauge providing locating means for insuring a substantially predetermined disposition for said gauge segment with respect to the center of said overflow opening, aligning said bench mark with said gauge segment, and threadingly adjusting the cooperably threaded links until drain closing means at the lower end of the lowermost of said links contacts the floor of said bathtub.

5. A bathtub waste and overflow wire system comprising, a lever system including an overflow cover face plate, an operating handle movably connected to said cover face plate to be moved between selected positions for opening and closing a bathtub waste drain opening, a pair of elongated link members, one of said link members being connected to said handle by an articulated connection, a drain plug opening and closing operating member connected to the lowermost end of the other of said link members, an articulatable connection between said link members connecting the same together, one of said link members comprised of a pair of wire members extending substantially parallel to each other and connected together by a threaded connection, one wire member of said pair of wire members being threaded along substantially its entire length and the other of said pair of wires having an ofiset means thereon to threadedly fix an end thereof at a preselected position along the length of the threaded one of said wire members.

6. In the bathtub waste and overflow system of claim 5, the link articulatably connected to the handle having a bench mark therein for cooperable disposition with respect to a gauge for preadjusting the length of the wire system.

7. A method of correctly adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the fittings of a bathtub, comprising the steps of providing an elongated multi-section adjustable wire system with a bench mark in a predetermined location thereon, indicating a horizontal reference line position with respect to a bathtub overflow opening, aligning said bench mark with said horizontal reference line position, and adjusting the wire system until the lowermost end thereof contacts the floor of the bathtub. 

1. In a system for correctly externally adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion in bathtub fittings, elongate gauge means comprising a first section adapted to be positioned in a bathtub overflow opening, an intermediate stop segment adjacent said first section for engaging a bathtub adjacent an overflow opening and a gauge segment projecting forwardly of said stop segment and away from said first section and cooperable with a said wiRe system to indicate together with a bathtub floor the length to which said wire system should be adjusted prior to insertion of a said wire system in the bathtub fittings.
 2. In the system of claim 1 in which said gauge segment defines a surface lying substantially along the central axis of said elongate gauge means.
 3. A method of correctly adjusting the length of a bathtub and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the fittings of a bathtub, the steps comprising providing an elongate multisection adjustable wire system with a bench mark in a predetermined location, indicating substantially the horizontal center of a bathtub overflow opening, aligning said horizontal center and said bench mark, and adjusting the wire system until the lowermost end thereof contacts the floor of said bathtub.
 4. A method of adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the bathtub fittings of a bathtub comprising the steps of providing a wire system having an operating handle and a plurality of elongate links depending from said handle, two of which links are cooperably threaded, the uppermost link defining a bench mark, juxtaposing a locating gauge with the overflow opening of a bathtub, said gauge including a gauge segment projecting forwardly from said overflow opening, said gauge providing locating means for insuring a substantially predetermined disposition for said gauge segment with respect to the center of said overflow opening, aligning said bench mark with said gauge segment, and threadingly adjusting the cooperably threaded links until drain closing means at the lower end of the lowermost of said links contacts the floor of said bathtub.
 5. A bathtub waste and overflow wire system comprising, a lever system including an overflow cover face plate, an operating handle movably connected to said cover face plate to be moved between selected positions for opening and closing a bathtub waste drain opening, a pair of elongated link members, one of said link members being connected to said handle by an articulated connection, a drain plug opening and closing operating member connected to the lowermost end of the other of said link members, an articulatable connection between said link members connecting the same together, one of said link members comprised of a pair of wire members extending substantially parallel to each other and connected together by a threaded connection, one wire member of said pair of wire members being threaded along substantially its entire length and the other of said pair of wires having an offset means thereon to threadedly fix an end thereof at a preselected position along the length of the threaded one of said wire members.
 6. In the bathtub waste and overflow system of claim 5, the link articulatably connected to the handle having a bench mark therein for cooperable disposition with respect to a gauge for preadjusting the length of the wire system.
 7. A method of correctly adjusting the length of a bathtub waste and overflow wire system prior to insertion of the wire system in the fittings of a bathtub, comprising the steps of providing an elongated multi-section adjustable wire system with a bench mark in a predetermined location thereon, indicating a horizontal reference line position with respect to a bathtub overflow opening, aligning said bench mark with said horizontal reference line position, and adjusting the wire system until the lowermost end thereof contacts the floor of the bathtub. 